Sometimes Social Services Suck
by Hisha P
Summary: Just because you're happily adopted doesn't mean you're legally adopted. Or that every human is willing to let one of them grow up among monsters. [Prequel to Echoes]


[I've been meaning to write this one-shot for a while, and what better day to finally post it than on the Undertale anniversary?^^]

* * *

Ebott Town was still under construction, but some of the houses were already mostly habitable despite not being finished.

At first the local human administration had tried to stop the construction of the new town, saying the monsters couldn't build anything without a permit, but all it took to obtain a permit was a few gold coins. After exchanging some more gold for human currency, monsters were even able to hire human construction workers to help them out. Humans not involved in the construction process were still very cautious of monsters and therefore tended to avoid the area.

Though, one afternoon, as the construction workers were finishing up Toriel's roof, an unknown human knocked on the freshly-painted door, accidentally tainting her knuckles purple. Toriel went to answer immediately.

"Good afternoon", the human greeted her. "I'm Mrs. Dean and I work for the social services. May I see Frisk?"

"They are at a friend's house at the moment", the monster replied. "Though, I can send a text to tell them you are here."

"…Please do", Mrs. Dean said, eyes narrowing.

Meanwhile, Frisk was at Sans & Papyrus' house, examining the newly installed toilets. Of course, the skeletons had no use for it ; they only had it added to their new home in case Frisk (or maybe other humans in the future) visited. Toriel and Asgore had already done the same thing in their respective houses and Alphys and Undyne were still in the process of having it done.

"THE HUMANS INSTALLED IT THEMSELVES", Papyrus explained from outside the bathroom. "NONE OF US HAD EVEN SEEN ONE OF THOSE BEFORE. I'M… STILL NOT SURE WHAT IT DOES, BUT I KNOW HUMANS NEED IT."

Frisk got out of the bathroom and pointed out the absence of toilet paper.

"OH, YOU NEED SPECIAL PAPER TOO?" the skeleton asked.

The child nodded.

"WHERE DO WE GET IT?"

"Supermarket", they replied simply.

Sans decided to tag along, as he hadn't been to that place yet. He started regretting his decision after they'd all been walking towards the next city for ten minutes.

"'must have done more walkin' since we got to the surface than i'd done my whole life", he commented as he and Frisk were catching up with Papyrus who was waiting for them further ahead.

He really should buy his brother the car he wanted. And maybe a bike for himself. That would be nice. He didn't have to pay rent anymore and he still had some gold saved up…

"No 'shortcuts'?" Frisk asked.

"kid, if i could take shortcuts to places i've never been before, i wouldn't have waited for the barrier to disappear to go see the real stars. could have taken papyrus stargazing. or i could have gone to the ruins and talked to tori face-to-face."

The child nodded slowly. Soon they and Sans caught up with Papyrus. Humans around them were staring at the skeletons and whispering to each other. And in that moment, Frisk received a text from Toriel telling them a lady from the social services was waiting for them. They froze for a moment. When asked what the matter was, they showed their phone screen to their friends.

"is that a bad thing?" Sans asked. When the human didn't answer, he added : "not really sure, huh?"

"I'M SURE IT'LL BE FINE!" Papyrus stated. "IF THIS MYSTERIOUS LADY WERE BAD, TORIEL WOULDN'T LET HER INTO HER HOUSE. SO LET'S GO GET WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR THEN TAKE YOU BACK HOME! I SEE THE STORE RIGHT OVER HERE!"

Frisk guessed their friend wasn't wrong : the social services lady wasn't bad. She most likely was there to do what she thought was best for them. The problem was : the child wasn't entirely sure she'd agree with them on what the best for them was.

They followed the monsters into the supermarket, picked a brand of toilet paper they were familiar with then headed to the self-checkout. Even though Sans was the one paying, Frisk had to use the machine for him because the touchscreen failed to react to his or Papyrus' touch.

"so now that's been dealt with", Sans said, "howzabout we take a shortcut to tori's house? wouldn't wanna make her guest wait too long."

"YOU TWO GO", Papyrus decided, taking the package of toilet paper from the human's hands, "I'LL JUST RUN HOME WITH THIS!"

And as he did so, Frisk followed Sans into a nearby empty street, then before they knew it they were both back in Ebott Town, right next to Toriel's house.

"so", the short skeleton started, "i've been meaning to test somethin' out since we moved up here. can you hold onto this for me?"

He handed Frisk a tiny box that looked about the size of a common pencil sharpener. When they shot him a quizzical look, he added :

"ya know, just in case. might come in _handy._ "

He winked at that. They shrugged then took the box and put it in their pocket.

Frisk and Toriel sat on the couch and Mrs. Dean sat on the nearby armchair while all three of them shared some tea.

"So, Frisk", the social services lady said as she set her cup down on the coffee table. "can you tell me where your parents are?"

The child nodded, then grabbed Toriel's arm.

"No, I mean-" Mrs. Dean started.

"Their human parents could come take them back at any time", the boss monster interrupted. "It is no secret that Frisk is here with us : they have been all over your media since we came to the Surface together. Whoever their birth parents are… they still have not contacted us. I think it is safe to assume that they will not."

The human woman turned to the child again :

"Do you know what happened to them?"

Their only reply was a shrug.

"So… does that mean you don't know?" she asked, surprised. "We can help you find them. If we can't, we'll find you other ones."

Frisk vigorously shook their head no.

"But… you need human parents!" Mrs. Dean insisted.

The child could swear their new mother's eyes had just gotten slightly redder. They shook their head again.

"I just got a family", they explained. "I'm not leaving them."

"I'm sorry, but I cannot just leave a child like you with mo- with someone who isn't their _legal_ guardian. Adoption is not that simple. It requires a lot of paperwork."

"Then give us all the necessary paperwork and we will sort it all out", Toriel suggested.

"I don't have those on me right now", Mrs. Dean replied. "Besides, human children should grow up among humans."

"I'm happier with monsters", Frisk stated.

Toriel looked about to cause a diplomatic incident. The other woman must have noticed, as she excused herself and left, but not before promising to come back.

A few more days passed. Frisk felt extremely tired. Waking up from a nightmare in the middle of the night again will do that to you.

They hadn't felt the Fallen Child's presence in a while now. They had left Frisk without a goodbye or explanation for anything. Were they finally satisfied? Did they get bored of playing the same games over and over? All that seemed to be left of them now were memories, dreams and nightmares.

It was probably better this way. At least nightmares only affected Frisk themselves and wouldn't hurt anyone around them, right?

They had a meeting with the nearby town's mayor that day. Once it was over with, they went to the bathroom while the monsters were waiting for them. When they left the bathroom and a town hall employee told them to follow, they were too tired to question it. When they got outside through the backdoor to find Mrs. Dean standing next to a car, they were too tired to protest. They still weren't tired enough to believe the social services would have taken such a direct approach had their new family not been monsters.

Should they try to reload a SAVE? When was their last SAVE, even? Had they created any SAVE point within the past two months? Or could they just call for help? Somebody would come this time, right? Frisk didn't think they deserved that help after what they had done. But the others needed them. They needed an ambassador, a friend, a child.

They considered jumping out of the moving car but before they could muster up the energy and courage to actually do it, the vehicle stopped in front of a building. Mrs. Dean led them inside, into her office. The chair she made them sit on while she interrogated them from her seat behind her desk was the absolute opposite of comfortable.

"What's your last name?" she asked.

"Dreemurr", Frisk replied.

"Your _real_ last name, sweetie. You can't have your monster parents' last name unless they legally adopt you. And I doubt monsters would be allowed to do that."

Frisk was too tired from the previous night and from the meeting to get any more spoken words out, so they grabbed a pen and a random piece of paper from the desk and wrote : "They're the only family I have

They're the only family who wants me".

Mrs. Dean proceeded to ask more questions about their human parents' whereabouts but they didn't answer any. How could they possibly give answers they did not have anyway?

The interrogation seemed endless, but eventually, finally, Mrs. Dean accepted she wouldn't get any information she wanted from the child and had to go back to working on other cases for the time being.

While she was distracted making some important phone call, Frisk took their own phone from their pocket, slowly, discreetly, and silently wrote a text to their new mother to tell her what had happened. Then, while the adult was writing something down and therefore was focused towards her own desk, the child stood up, careful not to make a single sound.

And then they bolted to the door and ran. They ignored Mrs. Dean's shouting and dodged the other adults in the building telling them to slow down or actively trying to catch them.

If they could outrun Undyne's spears back Underground, they could outrun all these people here and get away. They found the entrance, got out with the sounds of several people shouting right behind them, ran across the road, barely avoided getting hit by a car or two, reached a perpendicular street, then another before collapsing against a trash bin in an empty alley, their lungs on fire and their heartbeat pounding loudly in their entire body.

What now? They asked themselves as they tried to get their breathing back to normal. They took their phone again and, with trembling hands, managed to send the word "escaped" to Toriel. As they put the phone back into their pocket, they realised the tiny box given by Sans a few days prior wasn't in there anymore.

They checked again, frantically searched their other pocket, patted the asphalt beneath them and- oh, here it was. It must have slipped out when they took their phone.

"you were shaking that box a lot", said Sans' voice from right next to them. "please don't do that."

The first thing Frisk saw when they turned their head towards the voice was the skeleton's untied shoes ; when they looked up from their sitting position on the ground they noticed he had pulled his hood up for once.

He moved in front of the human and extended his left hand to them, the other one remaining in his pocket.

"need a hand?"

They grabbed it… and it stayed in their own hand. They blinked in confusion then started laughing, more at themselves for falling for the joke than at the joke itself. They gave Sans his hand back, then he helped them up to their feet. He was smiling.

Well, he always was, which made him more difficult to read, but through the many resets and the few uninterrupted months they had to get to know him, Frisk had learned to recognise the slight shifts in his eyes that indicated he truly felt like smiling at the moment.

"'haven't been able to pull this one off in years", he explained. "thanks. by the way, tori left as soon as she got your text. i think those social services people are gonna remember her for a _very_ long time."

Oh, Frisk bet they would.

"and thanks for holding onto the box for me", Sans added. "now I know it works."

When the human gave him a quizzical look, he continued :

"so you haven't opened it? i was sure you would. well. remember when i said i could only take shortcuts to places i've been to before? i never saw this alley in my life, but thanks to you, i've _technically_ been here before."

Frisk opened the tiny box to discover an even tinier bone, maybe a phalanx?

This was confirmed when the skeleton took it and reattached it to the pinkie finger of his right hand.

"'told ya it would come in handy."

The child facepalmed as they finally got the joke from days ago. Then, their friend took them home.


End file.
